Joint Commission Behavioral Health Update
February 2015
In This Issue:

Greetings to Our Colleagues in Behavioral Healthcare!
Thanks to all of you who provided feedback on our new website and the new format for our newsletter! We're pleased that you like the website's updated look and the more interactive features of the newsletter.

 

In this month's newsletter, we provide an overview of the new Patient Safety Systems Chapter in the 2015 Hospital Manual; important information for our psychiatric hospital clients. We are also providing a summary of highlights and trends in the Provision of Care chapter from our clients who were surveyed in 2014; valuable information as we head into 2015 surveys.

 

We value your feedback on the newsletter. Please contact us with your comments and tell us what topics you would like to see in future issues.  We look forward to hearing from you!  Also, feel free to forward this newsletter to your colleagues.

 

A big shout-out to our clients and colleagues in the Northeast who have been braving the winter storms! We hope the worst is over and that spring will soon be on its way!

 

Anne Barrins 

President/CEO

Preparing for a 2015 TJC survey?  

Contact us now to schedule our 2015 TJC Update for Psychiatric Hospitals and Behavioral Health Organizations. You'll get insight on how to tackle the top survey challenges for 2015!

 

877-546-7206
CONGRATULATIONS
CORNER

This month we extend hearty Congratulations to two clients who recently achieved the gold standard of Joint Commission accreditation: Bienvenidos Children's Center is headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif., and Haven Behavioral Hospital of Frisco is located in Frisco, Texas. 
Tip of the Month

If your organization conducts waived testing (such as glucose testing and urine drug screens), it's critical to be in compliance with the TJC Waived Testing standards. For useful tips and resources on this topic, check out the Standards BoosterPak for Waived Testing. It's available (to accredited organizations) on your TJC Connect site under Resources and Tools.
Why Choose
Barrins & Associates?
"I've used three different Joint Commission survey readiness consultants throughout my career and you folks at Barrins & Associates are by far the best in our business."

Ted Stryker, FACHE
Senior VP for Mental Health Services
Centra Virginia Baptist Hospital
NEW CHAPTER

There is a new Patient Safety Systems Chapter in the 2015 Hospital Accreditation Manual. There are no new standards in this chapter. Rather, it describes how existing standards can be used to build an integrated patient safety system. While this new chapter exists only in the Hospital manual, its principles can be used by all organizations seeking to improve patient safety. View the entire summary of the new chapter ...
Provision of Care Chapter
Highlights from 2014 TJC Surveys
Findings in the Provision of Care chapter typically account for a significant number of Requirements for Improving (RFIs) on surveys for both psychiatric hospitals and behavioral health organizations/programs. These findings relate primarily to assessment, treatment planning and clinical documentation. Sometimes, however, new issues crop up that are worth noting. View a summary of highlights and trends in this chapter from our clients surveyed in 2014 ...
Barrins & Associates Gold Sponsor 
Barrins & Associates is pleased to be a gold sponsor for the annual meeting of the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems (NAPHS) to be held in Washington D.C. on March 16th to 18th.  This year's meeting promises to be an exciting one with presentations by key policy makers on issues that are impacting the behavioral healthcare industry.  It's also an opportunity to network with many of our clients and prospective clients. We invite you to visit us at our display and look forward to catching up on your survey readiness efforts and how we can support those. Hope to see you next month in D.C.!
We were pleased to attend the 2015 Consultants Forum sponsored by TJC last month at their headquarters in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois. The meeting is an invitational event and there were 14 healthcare consultants in attendance. We were briefed on the latest TJC initiatives and TJC leadership was eager for input from the consultants on how the standards and survey process can be more value-added. The meeting was very informative and collegial and it was a professional pleasure to be "at the table" with this top notch group of consultants and the TJC executive team!
Barrins & Associates provides Joint Commission and CMS consulting services for the Behavioral Healthcare industry. Our clients include psychiatric hospitals and freestanding Behavioral Healthcare organizations. We specialize in providing Survey Preparation and Continuous Survey Readiness services for the Behavioral Healthcare industry. Barrins & Associates was founded by Anne Barrins who was a Joint Commission surveyor for 13 years.

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